Agent Cody Banks Sequel Loses Director

April 24th, 2003

Harald Zwart, who directed the first Agent Cody Banks, has left the production of the sequel over budgetary concerns. The sequel was budgeted at $26 million, $1 million higher than the original. However, Frankie Muniz’s salary reportedly increased from $2 million for the first, to $5 million for the sequel, so the actual amount that will make it on the screen has been reduced somewhat. With this reduction, Harald Zwart felt he could not maintain a high enough level of quality for the final project.

For MGM/UA this must be quite a blow in an already bleak year. Agent Cody Banks was the only film released by the studio this year to perform up to expectations. Their four other releases this year, including the recent Bulletproof Monk, have been disappointments to varying degrees and combined have less than Agent Cody Banks.

There’s no word on who will be taking over as director, or how this will affect the shooting schedule.